Eating Crab Cakes With Dennis Franz And Daughter

TV EYE

November 05, 2004|By ROGER CATLIN; Courant TV Critic

Besides the bubbly overload she brings to shows like ``30 Minute Meals'' (Food Network, 2:30, 6 and 6:30 p.m.) and ``$40 a Day'' (Food Network, 9:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m.), maybe princess of perkiness Rachael Ray also decided she wanted to start hanging out with celebrities -- perhaps even some of the other people named, as she was, People magazine's ``50 Most Beautiful People.''

Unfortunately, the star on the premiere episode of her newest series, ``Inside Dish With Rachael Ray'' (Food Network, 9 p.m. and 1 a.m.), did not qualify for that. In fact, Dennis Franz of ``NYPD Blue'' has made a name as a regular-looking guy on the show, which Ray is shocked to find is shot in L.A. rather than N.Y. She may not have a knack for news; she cuts him off when Franz suggests that the current season may not be the last -- but she likes food. She allows his daughter to make crab cakes, which she is only too glad to eat with him. And you get to hear the story about when Franz was a mailman.

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Tony Curtis and Roger Moore starred as crime-fighting playboys in the 1971 series ``The Persuaders'' (BBC America, 10 p.m.). It's awfully corny, with some gaudy fashion, and hardly a replacement for ``The Prisoner,'' which ran its final episode last week. But it still fits in a retro Friday night lineup that still includes ``The Avengers'' (8 p.m.) and ``The Saint'' (9 p.m.).

Bumped by its wine auction Sunday, the tale of an antiques dealer by Alan Bennett, ``Talking Heads: The Hand of God'' starring Eileen Atkins on ``Masterpiece Theater'' (CPTV, 9 p.m.), finally gets its local broadcast.

The first Friday of November sweeps means guest stars and cross-promotion. That means Kaley Cuoco of ``8 Simple Rules'' (ABC, 8 p.m.) sticks around to be guest star on ``Complete Savages'' (ABC, 8:30 p.m.).

Part of sweeps is saving the network from low ratings. Therefore, the new series ``Dr. Vegas'' has been removed for the duration starting tonight, when a rerun of ``Without a Trace'' (CBS, 10 p.m.) replaces it. Other procedural dramas will fill in throughout the month, with holiday specials pre-empting the low-rated Rob Lowe drama in early December.

Catch up with the garrulous family of bail bondsmen with a three-episode recap of ``Family Bonds'' (HBO, 9:30 p.m.).

On tonight's ``NOW with Bill Moyers'' (CPTV, 10 p.m.), the host deals with a splitting headache.

Noam Chomsky, D.L. Hughley and Andrew Sullivan are on hand to hash out election results on the season finale of ``Real Time With Bill Maher'' (HBO, 11 p.m.).

Election-Results Ratings

Nearly 120 million voted in the presidential election Tuesday, and just over 55 million watched results come in.

Of the major broadcast networks, NBC did the best ratings-wise, with 15.21 million viewers in the prime-time hours, according to Nielsen Media Research, followed by ABC with 13.22 million viewers and CBS with 9.54 million.

NBC was the only one of the three to call Ohio early for Bush, just before 1 a.m. Wednesday. Although the Kerry campaign objected, the network refused to reverse itself, as it did in 2000 with Florida.

On the cable news channels, Fox led with 8.05 million, followed by 6.2 million for CNN and 2.84 million for MSNBC.